Small batteries will alert users to remaining `run-time'
Companion ASIC will also ensure energy-efficient recharging
Users of portable equipment may soon have rechargeable batteries that monitor
their own usage with the equivalent of an internal fuel gauge. Such batteries
will not only prevent unexpected equipment failures, but will have
energy-efficient charging characteristics as well.
The battery of the future may now be on the horizon. Duracell (Bethel, CT) has
announced plans to develop a rechargeable battery that will monitor its own
usage and communicate this information to host devices and battery chargers.
No product is yet available. However, Duracell recently unveiled the
specifications to what it is calling the Smart Battery. Duracell has developed
specs called the Smart Battery Data, and Intel Corp. (Santa Clara, CA) has
developed the System Management Bus, a set of specifications governing the
communications protocol between the battery, host device, and battery charger.
Duracell and Intel are banking that these specifications will expedite
development of nickel-metal-hydride (and further in the future lithium ion)
batteries that any host device–whether it be a desktop or laptop computer,
camcorder, or cellular telephone–could accommodate and charge appropriately.
The key will be an application-specific IC that monitors the battery's current
drain, charge state, remaining run time, and type. In essence, the ASIC will
make it possible for the battery to have a “fuel gauge,” as Duracell puts it,
that indicates the remaining operating time the user can expect from a battery
on its current charge. According to Duracell, the ASIC will take up little
space and will not add significant cost to the battery.
So far, support for both battery protocol and communications specifications has
been promising. Companies agreeing to support the specifications include Compaq
Corp.and several power supply and chip manufacturers, among them Phoenix
Technologies, Maxim Integrated Products, Opti, PicoPower, and VLSI Technology.
While Duracell is initially building an intelligent battery, other battery
makers may also develop similar batteries.
According to Norm Allen, senior vice president for Duracell's New Products and
Technology Div., the Smart Battery technology will be applied to Duracell's
rechargeable nickel-metal-hydride battery packs starting in the fourth quarter
of 1994. Eventually, the company's entire nickel-metal-hydride battery pack
line will be upgraded to comply with the Smart Battery Data and System
Management Bus specifications.
For more information, contact Jim Donahue at Duracell (Bethel, CT) at
203-796-4654 or . Alternatively, contact a local Intel sales office at
800-626-7256 or .
–Spencer Chin
CAPTION:
Duracell is developing, together with Intel, an intelligent rechargeable
battery called the Smart Battery. The battery will monitor its own charge state
and communicate that information to the host device and charger.
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